My 4 year old son

[Steve]

On May 19 of 2008 my normal healthy 4 year old son started complaining of leg pain. We took him to the local ER and they took x-rays and said that nothing was wrong with him. He was just experiencing "growing pains" We took him home. The next morning he kept complaining of severe leg pain. We took him the Texas Children's Hospital and Dr. William Whitehead requested an MRI and CT Scan. They found that he had a Spinal AVM that had caused a huge aneurysm. Luckily we found it on time. He is able to walk and have bowel movements and i do not have to catherize him anymore. While we were in the ER which was about 8 hours he started to lose the ability to walk, the ability to urinate and have bowel movements. We were so horrified and hurt to see our son go through this. He had a procedure done that glued and repaired his AVM. It is September 2008 and we have had 2 follow up MRI's and the doctor says that he is healed. Although my son has started to complain of pain in his leg again. It has been 4 months after his procedure and he has just started to complain of leg pain. I found this site when I started to look for symptoms that he could possibly have after his AVM was repaired. We are going back to his neurosurgeon in the next 3 days to see his thoughts on if we need to have anything else done.

thank you for this site. I know that Spinal AVM are rare but with this site it gives me some relief that we are not alone.

<u>Update:</u> <b>My 4 year old son</b> - May 16, 2009 - 15:20 EDT
It has been 7 months and my son is walking and using the restroom normal again. He complains of no leg pain anymore. He has had 3 MRI's to check his spine and everything looks good. He does have some swelling to the spine but this is due to the aneurysm that was located on his spine. They told me that my son would not be able to walk the same or have bowel movements without assistance. My son is only 4 years old but he is so strong. I don't believe that he has the mentality to accept any negative outcomes. Two days after his surgery in May 08 he was walking and completely amazed every doctor in that hospital. Even doctors from other hospitals came to see him because they could not believe that he was walking. They told me &quot;he is not suppose to be walking&quot; they were almost certain that he would be paralyzed. The surgery was high risk and very invasive.
I knew my son was in trouble but when I saw the expressions on the doctors faces that is when it really hit me that he could of been paralyzed. They told me that it was a risk but i guess i did not process it in my mind. I never accepted it. I saw my son in that hospital bed and said &quot; he will be fine&quot; I prayed and prayed and prayed. My pastor came to his bed side and prayed for him. My son asked Jesus to touch his body and heal him and he did. The doctors and our prayers healed my son. God has given us so many blessings, every step that my son takes is a blessing or when he uses the restroom without assistance is a blessing. The things that we take for granted.
Thanks for your time.
<u>END Update</u>